{% extends "home/user_guide.html" %} {% load static %} {% block content %}

Explore

Explore functionality lets the user upload the data file and select the required feilds like dimensions, investment and target on which optimization needs to be performed. It provides visualization and insights on investment and target variables for the selected date range and dimensions.

Introduction to UI

• File Upload: In the application user can upload the file in CSV format only.
  
  • Note: Uploaded file should be in ASCII, UTF-8 or MacRoman format.
    
    
• Feild Selection:
  • Post upload, the user can select fields from the data: Date, Dimension, Investment, Target and Type of Target (dollar or volume).
    
  • Users can also select the CPM field if the analysis and optimization need to be performed in terms of impressions instead of investment.
    
  • While selecting the dimension, the user has the option to select multiple dimensions using the multi-select checkbox option in the drop-down.
  • The type of target variable i.e. dollars or volume is utilized to compute ROI or CPA respectively for trend analysis and post-optimization.
    
    
• Data Granularity: The user has the option to select the date at daily or weekly granularity. When using weekly data, the user needs to specify the same using the weekly checkbox option in the input panel.
  
  
• Aggregate to weekly data: Users can select this option if they want to aggregate daily-level granularity data to the weekly level.
  
  
• Dimension Grouping:
  • If the user selects multiple dimensions, then the Group Dimensions feature will be made available to the user.
    
  • The user can select any dimension from the dimension list checked under Dimension Selector for grouping the dimensions.
    
  • This feature will allow for providing group-level constraints for the budget optimizer only.
    
    
• Submit: After clicking Submit button, visualization will be shown on the screen based on the selected inputs.
  
  
• Note: User has the ability to switch between the tabs post-explore functionality has been implemented successfully.

Visualization

• The explore tab lets the user visualize investment and target for the selected date range and dimensions:
  
  • Explore tabs provide trend analysis on investment and target variables based on data aggregation at the date and dimensions (selected by the user from the multi-select drop-down option).
    
  • It also provides a comparison between multiple dimensions (selected by the user from the multi-select drop-down option) on investment and target variables.
    
  • Note:
    
    • By default, the entire date range is selected based on the data.
      
    • By default, all the dimensions from the list are selected.
      
    • Both chart displays investment and target variables' value on hover.
      

Trend Analysis

Dimension Comparison Chart

Backend Logic

• File Upload: The application accepts the data file in CSV format. If the uploaded file is in any other format, it will give an error message to upload the file in the correct format.
  
  
• Date Selector: When the date field is selected, it checks whether the date column is in the proper format or not i.e. YYYY-MM-DD. In case the date field is in incorrect format, an error message will be prompted saying "Enter date in YYYY-MM-DD" format.
  
  
• Investment, Target and CPM (if selected): It checks whether the respective fields are in numeric format or not, if not error message will be prompted with an appropriate message.
  
  
• Target Type Selector: It provides options as "Dollar" and "Volume", which are the type of target variable and has to be selected between these options. If not selected, a message will be prompted to select the target type.
  
  
• Dimension: It checks whether the selected field(s) is in string format or not, if not error message will be displayed with an appropriate message.
  
  
• Dimension Grouping: This option will be made available to the user once multiple dimensions are selected in Dimension Selector. Any dimension can be chosen from the list of selected dimensions for grouping. This is an optional field only utilized to add group-level constraints on Optimize tab for budget optimization.
  
  
• Submit: On clicking the submit button following operations takes place in the backend before charts are displayed on the explore screen:
  
  • Check for each of the dimensions that all the dates are present between the start and end date. If missing, that particular date is added with null/zero values in the selected fields (namely Investment, Target and CPM (if selected)). This step is performed for displaying the trend chart on the explore page.
    
  • If the "Aggregate to weekly data" option is selected, then daily-level granularity data is aggregated to the weekly level considering Monday as the week-starting day for aggregation.
    
  • The above steps get iterated for all the unique dimensions or a combination of dimensions (if multiple fields for a dimension are selected).
    
  • If multiple dimensions are selected, all the dimension fields get concatenated with an underscore as a delimiter.
  • If the CPM checkbox option is selected, the Impression field is then computed for each combination of date and dimension using respective Investment and CPM fields.
    
  • If the Dimension Grouping option is selected and the user chooses one of the dimensions for grouping, the list of group-level dimensions and sub-dimensions within it is created to set the constraints on the Optimize tab (if required).
    
  • Lastly, data aggregation is performed on the selected fields in the input panel (Investment, Target and Impressions (if the CPM checkbox option is selected)).
    
  • Note:
    
    • If the "Aggregate to weekly data" option is selected, then automatically "Weekly data granularity" option is also selected in the backend as data will be converted to weekly granularity level.
      
    • Dimension Grouping option is only valid for Optimize tab and not for the Goal Seek tab because constraints at the group dimension level can be computed for budget optimization only. Constraints for target optimization can't be computed, as for a given group-level budget constraint estimating the target is not possible.
      

{% endblock content %}